Hardest most violent recoil...

[Earlwb]

Now I was surprised at first with how hard the recoil was with the Bond Arms Gun in 45 Colt or 410 buckshot. it turned out that the little stock wood grips were the problem. It was painful for me with every shot with the little wood grips. Putting on the little rubber grips tamed it enough so that I could shoot it all day like that. Oh yeah for .357 magnum loads the same thing too.

[contender1]

"Here,, hold my beer & watch this,,,,,,,,,,,,,!"

Punishment & pain are not why I shoot.
Yes, I've shot many large caliber, hard recoiling handguns. I've also shot the small, lightweight ones too.

Properly built & handled, many can be used,, but not necessarily pleasant.

I prefer to enjoy shooting, so I keep my stuff to more moderate things. My heaviest recoiling handgun is a FA in 454 Casull. My Ruger .480 is not as bad as the .454.
But, I do not use "rocks & dynamite" loads. I use loads worked up for accuracy.

[475AR]

My worst kicker is my Competitor pistol with a 15" 444 marlin barrel, the actual recoil isn't too bad but what gets me is the wrist torque it does and after 5 shots I have to put it down.

[memtb]

I guess tat it would be my wife’s lightweight Chief Special with “hot loads” or my S&W 629 pushing my 265 grain cast pushed quite hard. I’d rather shoot my 460 S&W running 400 grain cast, “maxed-out” than either of the other two! The first two are painful, the 460 is just “unbearably” loud! memtb

[725]

Once, while at the range, a fellow shooter had his XP-100 in .458 Win Mag. It was evil. Of course, when he offed me a chance to shoot it, I did. Once was enough.

[rintinglen]

I shot a wooden-gripped Contender in 45-70--once.

[358429]

Wow! I knew you guys have strong fingers! If you got pictures of fire rings and fire ball from the cannons you all are shooting please show em! Some 460 fire rings would make my day!

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[RichardB]

I converted an old Pachmayr Dominator conversion for 1911 to 45 Raptor using a .458 bore instead of .452. Fired one round of factory equivalent ammo. That was enough. Even with download Trail Boss loads I can only manage three rounds. I think its too much in the 1911 grip frame.

[Conditor22]

For me (and a friend) it was ++P rounds in a 50AE. I'm 6'8" and have big hands (I used both) Once was enough

My friend forgot to put on his safety glasses when he shot it and the spent casing came back and blackened both of his eyes! He was really lucky it hit in the middle.

I'm not as old as some on here but I am old enough to stick with the lowest powered load that gives me the best accuracy.

I shot for fun and like to shoot all day when I go out --- pain is not fun


PEOPLE REALLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT SELF DEFENSE AMMO IN HAND CANNONS AND POSSIBLE PASS THROUGHS HITTING INNOCENTS BEHIND THE PERP

[Texas by God]

I dont begrudge anyone who enjoys shooting the large and small handcannons; but they are not for me. For a defense handgun, I don't need more recoil than a .45 ACP or .38 Special. For hunting, if I need more oomph than my .41 magnum then I will carry a rifle.
I have fired snubnose .357s, a 10" octagon 30-30 Contender with 170 gr factory loads, the forehead slicing .50 AE like mentioned above, and a .454 Taurus Raging Judge- I hated all of them.
In the distant past, I even fired an 8" barreled 12 gauge "whippet gun" that a colorful character kept in his truck. That one put a knot " upside my head"!

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[imashooter2]

I’ve shot the 360 with enough magnums to carry it with +P .38s. Factory 158 grain magnums were bad. My 180 grain WFN reloads were brutal. Felt like a bee stinging the web of my hand and holding it just as tight as I could it still drove the trigger guard into my middle finger every shot. The 135 grain +P .38 Special Gold Dot Short Barrel that I carry is still stout, but manageable.

All that said, it is so light it is a joy to carry. And it gets carried a lot more than it gets shot.

[Golfswithwolves]

had the opportunity to shoot a 6" 454 casull. One cylinder full was plenty, but fun!!

I briefly owned a 7 1/2" FA Model 83 in .454 Casull, and knew I had met my match. Just 250 gr. Winchester factory loads but they were more than I cared to shoot. The revolver had the big fat Pachmyre rubber grips which did not help as my hand was too small for them. I traded this revolver for a nice FA Model 97 in .44 Special and am completely happy with the change!

[gwpercle]

The S&W model 58 in my avatar ... 41 Magnum .
Mostly with mid range loads . Have some sweet wadcutter loads .
I got over , outgrew , " Magnumgitis " about 1978 or so ... shooting big hard kicking guns just to prove how tough we were got old ... or maybe we got older .
The 41 mag. is all I need
Gary

[Lloyd Smale]

ive shot all the big bore revolvers the smiths and all the linebaughs and the linebaugh max. revover wize id say it the 500 max with full power loads and the 475 wasnt far behind. Shoot a cylinder out of each and my standard 475 and 500s felt like a 38 special. Much lighter then a smith 500, bfr 4570 ect. but uncomfortable? Id give that to my buddys bond 44 mag with 300 casts and 22 grains of 110. It was like lighting a stick of dynamite and holding it in your had. But for all out recoil. Kelly Brost had a tc encore in 458 lott with full power ammo at one of the linebaugh seminars. Youd better be paying attention when you light off that monster.

[megasupermagnum]

There is painful, and there is strong recoil. One of the lightweights, like a Ruger LCR in 357 magnum shooting a 180 gr Buffalo Bore or similar strong load is about as painful as it gets.

For strong recoil, there are a number of ridiculous handguns out there now. By strong recoil, I mean you might hit yourself in the head if you don't know what you are doing. The LCR in 357 magnum is strong, but you probably wont hit your head with one. It's more like getting hit in the hand with a hammer. There are plenty of ridiculous handguns now that have strong recoil. The worst I have is a 54 caliber TC Scout Pistol. This doesn't have to be bad, but it sure can be if you want. I actually like it with 60 grains FFg and a .530" round ball (230 grains). At that level, it's not much different than a typical 357 magnum in a normal size gun. Load it up with 120 gr powder, and a 435 grain Maxiball, and you had better make sure to angle it away from your forehead. It is much better with the Hogue grip. With the wood grips it came with, it was outrageous, far worse than anything else I've ever shot. The second worse was a Competitor pistol in 458 win mag, and that was way easier to shoot.

[racepres]

I shot a wooden-gripped Contender in 45-70--once.

Yup Had one in about '79 or '80?? with the original [pre-Herretts] grips.. Rested it on top of a fencepost, and ripped part of the front of the grip Off...Oops
I think maybe the 375 Win may be a close second!!
While the 357 Herrett can cause nose Bleeds if loaded to Max, I still to this day Dislike full power 44 mags in an original Contender configuration, grips and Short Octagon Barrel.. caused Bruising!!!

[Drm50]

If you want recoil, try a Navy flare pistol with chamber insert for 12g. A 3” slug will bring tears to your eyes until you can get your thumb back in the socket.

[jonp]

Handgun it was my SP101 snub with the small grips using max 357 158gr loads. I'm not recoil shy but I sold that pistol. The gun could handle it, I couldn't

[Earlwb]

A 4 shot Austrian made 600 Nitro Express revolver…….quite a handful!

This one is made by someone in Germany, it is a five shot revolver chambered in .600 Nitro express. The shooter wears a motorcycle helmet with full face shield too. It probably ranks up there at the top of the list. I think that nowadays, it is going to cost you $50 or more a round to shoot one.



Someone else has a single shot pistol in .600 Nitro express too. I don't know if you could get a barrel for a Contender to be made for that large of a cartridge, but maybe you can. But from the video he didn't quite hold it correctly. Ouch.

[Jtarm]

I meant a member posting something along the lines of "That little mouse gun? You should try a 329…”

Yup.

I guess people buy them as bear guns, but it might be less painful to just let bear chew on you.